Door bottom seal



Dec. 31, 1968 H. R. HANSON DOOR BOTTOM SEAL e K 1r 6 m H \a w. B Z w m s r 2 6 Cl M 2 2 w 4 a FIG.3

INVENTOR HENRY R. HANSON mQQJ? FIGA United States Patent 3,418,753 DOOR BO'ITOM SEAL Henry R. Hanson, 1405 28th St., Norton Acres, Sioux Falls, S. Dak. 57105 Filed Sept. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 582,985 3 Claims. (Cl. 49-308) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sealing mechanism for the bottom of a door in which a threshold-engaging member is adapted to move upwardly and downwardly and in which the connection between the threshold engaging member and controlling bell crank means is accomplished by means of linking means which is adapted to pivot with respect to the bell crank lever and with respect'to the threshold-engaging member so as to provide efiicient flexibility as to permit the engaging member to move vertically without substantial endwise horizontal movement.

Field of the invention This invention is in the field of door bottom closures for forming a tight fit to keep out cold weather, the threshold-engaging means of such mechanisms is adapted to automatically move upwardly to permit clearance of a rug or carpet, and yet to move downwardly when the door is closed for sealing.

Description of the prior art The prior art mechanisms for this purpose have had the disadvantage that they have not had sufficient flexibility as to permit the threshold-engaging member to move vertically without also moving horizontally at the same time. This causes it to be necessary for the threshold-engaging member to form a very bad fit by not being long enough to extend completely from side to side of the door jamb, such a bad fit being necessary to allow prior art thresholdengaging members to shift horizontally.

Such bad fits will cause drafts of wind to blow in under the door at the ends of the threshold-engaging member.

This disadvantage, in my opinion, has been the reason why retractable sealing members for the bottom of hinged doors have not been more popular.

Summary of the invention A door bottom sealing member having bell crank means above a threshold-engaging member and having means connecting one arm of the bell crank lever means to the threshold-engaging member, such connecting means comprising a linking means which latter is adapted to pivot with respect to the threshold-engaging member and also to pivot with respect to said one arm of said bell crank lever, said pivoting being in a vertical plane approximately in alignment with the elongated threshold-engaging member so as to provide sufiicient flexibility as to per mit the engaging member to move vertically without substantial endwise horizontal movement so that the threshold-engaging member can snugly and slidably fit between the sides of the door jamb and yet be vertically raisable and lowerable.

The combination described in which means is provided for hingedly mounting one side of the threshold-engaging means for pivoting about an axis extending in parallelism with and alongside of the elongated threshold-engaging member whereby the hinging tends to prevent the threshold-engaging member from moving horizontally in a direction longitudinally of itself.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a door shown with the door bottom seal of this invention mounted thereon and disposed in a door frame, the floor being shown in cross section.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a view of the lower portion of FIGURE 1 but shown in greaterdetail and with the forward portion of parts broken away and the remainder shown in section, an alternate position of a bell crank being shown in dotted lines.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 2.

The door bottom seal of this invention can also be called a vertically movable threshold-engaging device and is generally indicated at 10 and has a housing number 12 suitably attached to the bottom section of a door 20.

The housing 10 has a downwardly opening elongated receiving channel 24 extending in approximate alignment with the bottom of the door 20, which latter is purposely caused to terminate a substantial distance above a threshold piece 40 so as to provide room for the door bottom seal 10 to be received.

An elongated threshold-engaging member 50 is provided having a resilient gasket portion 52 on its lower side, the member 50 being hingedly attached at 54 to the housing 10 along one side of the member 50 and along one side of the door with the other side of the member 50 free to pivot and swing upwardly into a dotted line position shown in FIGURE 2.

A bell crank lever 60 is pivotally attached by an axle 62 to the housing 12 and the lever 60 has a central portion 66 receiving the axle 62 for the pivoting of the lever 60 about a horizontal axis transverse to the engaging member 50.

The one arm 70 of the bell crank lever which extends substantially horizontally is attached to the threshold-engaging member 50 by a suitable connecting means gen erally indicated at for the lifting of the engaging member 50 whenever the outer end of the arm 70 is raised.

The connecting means 80 preferably comprises an elongated linkage 92 pivotally attached to the outer end of the one arm 70 in a manner for the swinging of the lower end of the linkage 92 horizontally in each of two opposite direction approximately in alignment with the elongation of the engaging means 50. The lower end of the linkage 92 is attached to the engaging means 50 by suitable means in a manner permitting the freedom of the engaging member 50 so that it can move vertically without substantial endwise movement so as not to bind against the ends or end walls of the housing 12, the attach-means 100 providing a loose fit sufiicient for this purpose.

The means 80 connecting the one arm 70 to the threshold-engaging member 50 is sufliciently flexible to cause a pivotal connection at at which a hooked upper end 122 extends through an opening in the arm 70 with a loose fit, so as to permit the threshold-engaging member 50 to move vertically without substantial endwise movement or binding against the end walls 110.

An elongated push element generally indicated at is slidably mounted in the housing 12 above the bell crank lever 60 in a manner for horizontal sliding movements approximately in alignment with the engaging device 50.

The other, or upwardly extending arm 154 of the bell crank 60 has an opening 156 therein which is vertically elongated for loosely receiving a pin 160 slidable therein, the pin being fixed to a central member 166 of the push element 150.

The slidable mounting of the push element 150 in carriers 172 is such that when the push element 150 is moved in the direction 180, the bell crank lever 60 will be caused to rotate in a manner for causing the free end of the arm 70 to raise.

Actuating means is provided on the push element 3 150 and extends slidably through the housing 12 into a position for engaging means 194 on the door jamb 196 at an edge of the door for causing the push element 150 to move in the direction of the arrow 200 for actuating the bell crank lever 60 so as to cause the linkage 92 to push the engaging member 50 down against the threshold 40.

With the operation as described, it will be seen that an effective seal is attained and that whenever the door is opened, a spring means 290 urges the push member 150 in the direction of the arrow for causing the engaging member 50 to raise so that it clears and does not touch a throw rug, not shown, otherwise disposed in the path of the door.

As seen in FIGURE 4, the axle 54 is pivotally supported on one or more brackets 292 fixed to the housing 12.

As best seen in FIGURE 4, the bracket 292 will limit endwise movement of the threshold engaging member.

As thus described it is believed that the invention will be seen to fulfill the objectives above set forth.

I claim:

1. A vertically movable threshold-engaging device for attachment to a door of a type which is swingably mounted on a door frame including: a housing member having means thereon for attachment to the bottom of a door, said housing having a downwardly opening elongated receiving channel extending in approximate alignment with the bottom of said door, an elongated threshold engaging means mounted for movement upwardly and downwardly in said receiving channel, a bell crank lever in said housing above said engaging means mounted for movement upwardly and downwardly in said receiving channel, a bell crank lever in said housing above said engaging means and having a central portion pivotally mounted on said housing for the pivoting of said lever about a horizontal axis transverse to said engaging means, means connecting said one arm of said bell crank lever to said threshold engaging means for lifting said engaging means whenever the outer end of said one arm is raised, said connecting means comprising a linking means which latter is adapted to pivot with respect to said one arm of said bell crank lever, said pivotings of said linking means being in a vertical plane approximately in alignment with said elongated threshold engaging means so as to provide sufiicient flexibility as to permit said engaging means to move vertically without substantial endwise horizontal movement, an elongated push element slidably mounted on said housing above said bell crank lever in a manner for horizontal sliding movements approximately in alignment with said elongated thresholdengaging means, means attaching the other arm of said bell crank lever to said push element in a manner such that when said push element is moved in one direction said bell crank lever will be caused to rotate in a manner for causing the free end of said one arm of said bell crank lever to raise, actuating means on said push element and extending slidably through said housing and projecting outwardly of said housing in a position for engaging means on the door jamb at times when said door is approximately closed for causing said push element to move horizontally to actuate said bell crank lever, said other arm attaching means forming a sufliciently flexible connection between said other arm and said push element as to permit said other arm to freely define rotating movements, said push element and its mounting and said bell crank being operatively correlated to permit said rotation of said bell crank lever during horizontal movement of said push element without the occurrence of excessive binding.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the operative correlation betwen said push element its mounting means and said bell crank comprises a pin and pin-receiving means forming interconnection between said other bell crank arm and said push element, the pin-receiving means fitting said pin loosely for accomplishing the said correlation.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which means is provided for hingedly mounting one side of said engaging means for pivoting about an axis extending in parallelism with and along one side of said elongated engaging member, means for hingedly mounting limiting endwise movement of said elongated threshold-engaging means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 649,150 5/1900 Winter 49-308 2,848,767 8/1958 Thompson 49-308 FOREIGN PATENTS 24,103 12/1895 Great Britain.

145,382 2/1931 Switzerland.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

J. KARL BELL, Assistant Examiner. 

